BODIES DON'T JUST TELL STORIES, THEY TELL HISTORIES: Embodiment of Historical Trauma among American Indians and Alaska Natives
Open accessAbstract
Increasingly, understanding how the role of historical events and context affect present-day health inequities has become a dominant narrative among Native American communities. Historical trauma, which consists of traumatic events targeting a community (e.g., forced relocation) that cause catastrophic upheaval, has been posited by Native communities and some researchers to have pernicious effects that persist across generations through a myriad of mechanisms from biological to behavioral. Consistent with contemporary societal determinants of health approaches, the impact of historical trauma calls upon researchers to explicitly examine theoretically and empirically how historical processes and contexts become embodied. Scholarship that theoretically engages how historically traumatic events become embodied and affect the magnitude and distribution of health inequities is clearly needed. However, the scholarship on historical trauma is limited. Some scholars have focused on these events as etiological agents to social and psychological distress; others have focused on events as an outcome (e.g., historical trauma response); others still have focused on these events as mechanisms or pathways by which historical trauma is transmitted; and others have focused on historical trauma-related factors (e.g., collective loss) that interact with proximal stressors. These varied conceptualizations of historical trauma have hindered the ability to cogently theorize it and its impact on Native health. The purpose of this article is to explicate the link between historical trauma and the concept of embodiment. After an interdisciplinary review of the “state of the discipline,” we utilize ecosocial theory and the indigenist stress-coping model to argue that contemporary physical health reflects, in part, the embodiment of historical trauma. Future research directions are discussed.
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Researchers have begun to examine the impact of inequities and intergenerational traumatic stress on physical health and how embodiment is multifaceted and influenced by social, cultural, economic, and biological processes; this interconnectedness has gained acceptance in health interventions.
“In particular, researchers have begun to examine the impact of inequities and intergenerational traumatic stress on physical health and how embodiment of these processes is multifaceted and influenced by social, cultural, economic, and biological processes; and this interconnectedness has gained acceptance in health interventions (Walters et al., 2011).”
From Growing from Our Roots: Strategies for Developing Culturally Grounded Health Promotion Interventions in American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Communities (2020) · cites this paper as Walters et al., 2011
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredCalls for centering Indigenous Knowledge in health intervention research follow the egregious mistreatment of Native people over the course of colonial and imperial histories in tandem with the advent of modern science.
“Calls for centering IK in health intervention research follow the egregious mistreatment of Native people over the course of colonial and imperial histories in tandem with the advent of modern science (Walters et al, 2011).”
From Growing from Our Roots: Strategies for Developing Culturally Grounded Health Promotion Interventions in American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Communities (2020) · cites this paper as Walters et al, 2011
The Historically Traumatic Events section (page unavailable) documents centuries of colonial violence and suppression of Native cultural practices. The Introduction (page unavailable) calls for more research on historical trauma and draws on an Indigenous health framework. Our copy does not connect that history to calls for centering Indigenous Knowledge in health intervention research or to the advent of modern science. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredNative scholars propose that health intervention research should explicitly promote healing from well-being disruptions by building interventions from the culture or from the ground up.
“Native scholars propose that health intervention research should explicitly promote healing from well-being disruptions by building interventions from the culture or “from the ground up” (Walters et al., 2011).”
From Growing from Our Roots: Strategies for Developing Culturally Grounded Health Promotion Interventions in American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Communities (2020) · cites this paper as Walters et al., 2011
The 'Pathways to Embodying HT' section discusses cultural protective factors that may buffer disruptions to wellness, and the Conclusion describes AIAN communities regenerating practices to heal (page numbers unavailable). Neither passage proposes that health intervention research should build interventions from the culture or 'from the ground up.' (LLM, conf=0.82)
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- Authors
- Walters, K. L., Mohammed, S. A., Evans-Campbell, T., Beltrán, R. E., Chae, D. H., & Duran, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- University of Washington Bothell (US)
- Emory University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Walters, Karina L.
- Venue
- Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2011
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 179-189
- ISSN
- 1742-058X (ISSN-L)
- 1742-0598
- PMC
- PMC5967849
- OpenAlex
- W2053490087
- Cited by
- 424
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 78 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 15.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Du Bois Review Social Science Research on Race (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5u01hl087322-05)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U01-HL 087322)
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (L60 MD006589)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Race, Genetics, and Society
- Keywords
- historical trauma, embodiment, Native American health, health disparities, ecosocial theory, intergenerational trauma, forced relocation, collective loss, health determinants, Native American tribes
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